New Evidence for St. John’s Church at Antalya’s Yivli Minare?

Hidden Crosses of Antalya

• Finding Hidden Churches – Walking Tour of Kaleiçi, Antalya
• Former Byzantine Church in Antalya
• Hidden Crosses in the Antalya Archeology Museum
• Kaleiçi Walking Tour – From Port Lookout to the Greek Walls
• Antalya Bell Tower – Whoops! Clock Tower Walking Tour
• The Five Vanished Churches in Kaleiçi, Antalya
• New Evidence for St. John’s Church at Antalya’s Yivli Minare?
• The Many Mysteries of Karaalioğlu Park in Antalya

For centuries, the remains of a former Byzantine church have remained hidden beneath the medieval layers of the Yivli Minare Mosque in Antalya. Yet evidence of this Christian past has not disappeared. It lies scattered in the open. The Yivli Minare Mosque and the Seljuk walls of Kaleiçi preserve clues to an earlier structure on this hilltop. Now, newly exposed areas from excavations around Yivli Minare invite us to look again at what once stood here.

The excavations reveal more of a medieval complex constructed over an earlier Byzantine Christian structure. As archaeologists uncover new areas and identify objects associated with the site, they provide an opportunity to ask an important question: What can these discoveries tell us about the Byzantine church known as St. John’s Church and the Christian community that once occupied this prominent place in Antalya?

The Eastern Wooden Walkway

The main monument in the open excavated area is the 13th-century Medrese gate. From 2016 to 2025, the area near the former Armağan/Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev Medrese Gate was studied and then excavated. Now one can walk above many small ruins that sit within the open areas. Armağan was a Seljuk commander who served under Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev (who ruled in Konya from 1237 to 1246). He died while suppressing the Babai Revolt in 1239-1240 AD. After the Seljuks’ defeat by the Mongols in 1243, this Sultan fled to Antalya and died there in 1246.

The original mosque was built in 1230, and the madrasa was commissioned in 1239. The original mosque most likely adopted the shape of the St. John Church, and in 1373 it was again used in the second building.^[1]https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6119

Byzantine Monuments at Yivli Exposed Excavation

Unfortunately, the public report did not reveal any Byzantine ruins when they wrote about the archaeology digs from 2023 to 2025.^[2]https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/kultur/yivli-minare-cevresindeki-kazilarda-aciga-cikarilan-mezarlardan-3u-koruma-altina-alindi/3714246?utm_source=chatgpt.com But, a walk within the site, will show what I believe are numerous objects that enhance the other St. John’s Church ruins.

First, here is a list of other ruins that I have documented before:

• Crosses and Spolia at Nigar Hatun Tomb
• Seljuk Panels with St. John’s Church panels
• My pictures of the Carved Marble Displays
• The citation of this church dates to the 6th century and is named after St. John the Theologian

Baptistery of St. John Church

Next to the Seljuk Minaret stands a baptismal basin from the former Byzantine Church. Archaeologists uncovered this possible baptismal installation among the remains at Yivli Minare Mosque.
The open-air walkway displays this basin, which features a large polygonal or octagonal form about a meter and a half across, rather than the simple rectangular shape of an ordinary water trough. The interior includes recessed vertical niches and a substantial raised rim. It appears that after the object broke, someone reassembled it. Plaster and marble cover the base to waterproof it. This ceremonial installation highlights its purpose-built nature, and a damaged hole in the rim suggests someone once placed a cross or another religious symbol in one of the upper corners. The basin thus serves a ceremonial purpose rather than functioning as a simple cistern or trough.

This water basin is visible at the foot of the fluted minaret, but current Turkish excavation reports do not identify or discuss it as a baptismal basin, nor do they note that a baptistery once stood east of the former church. Of note is that the four baptismal basins found at the Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, they all differ in shape and one has no steps like this one.

Hexagonal Baptismal Basins

In another online reference, I found the picture below, and another write-up described it as a baptismal basin, but it seems to be no longer available. Yet, here is my screenshot of this.

Other six-lobed or hexagonal baptismal basins have been found in Rome and North Africa.^[3]Hexagon in Byzantine architecture by Ακριβοπούλου, Σοφία, 2016, found at https://www.openarchives.gr/aggregator-openarchives/edm/phdtheses/000040-10442_20450 San Marcello al Corso in Rome displays a circular shaped rim with an hexagonal shape interior for a baptism by immersion.^[4]Unfortunately, I could not find a picture online of this. Then a hexagon shaped interior of a baptismal basin is found in Damous el Karita in Carthage Tunisia.

Of note, the newly exposed remains at Yivli Minare include a six-lobed basin, invites comparison with other Byzantine baptismal fonts. The resemblance is particularly noteworthy because Byzantine baptismal tanks could take trefoil, four-lobed, cruciform, and six-lobed forms, and some examples, including one Istanbul baptismal font (Mendel Catalog no. 1178/2159), lack steps.^[5]https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2162413

The Pillars and Graves

The earliest reports said that 40 graves were found, and now the latest reports say 8 graves were found. Were the later ones remains? Much of the area was closed off from public view, and even at the site, a lower level is covered to improve drainage or placed over a cistern. However, let’s consider how, firstly, the Byzantine Christians placed graves near baptistery areas or, better yet, near graveyards and crypts; they placed baptism sites.

The baptismal basin and multiple graves found at this site, which we know were Seljuk, suggest that, at this terrace elevation, a martyrium with graves could have been present along with this baptismal basin. Many of the early martyrium sites also had baptismal basins, as seen in the catacombs in Naples, Italy, or San Victor in Marseille, France.^[6]Also see https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110247534.1673/html Since baptism is an identification of the believer with the death and resurrection of Christ, likewise, at death the believer dies in Christ but will be resurrected in the last day by Christ. So, often early believers linked graves and baptism in a common area. That the current site shows graves, including a Muslim grave for an important person, suggests a pattern in this space that most likely, in some ways, matched what the 5th- or 6th-century Byzantine complex evidenced.

Here is a comparison of other hexagonal baptismal features and whether they included a baptistery building or graves.

So, with multiple pillars among the remains and the graves, did the Seljuks, who took over the site, continue to use the space for burials on the east side of their mosque or as a part of their madrasa? Of interest would be what was found below the exposed level. A cistern was mentioned, and maybe other catacomb-like spaces were formed in the hillside. Historically, many of these Christian martyr sites were destroyed during the Muslim takeover of the cities, with no priority given to renovating or maintaining them, including St. Euphemia next to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

The Process of Discovery

In the many layers of discovery at the Yivli Minare site, the earliest layers were Roman and Byzantine. We know that the apostle Paul traveled through Antalya and the early spread of the gospel took place in Perge. The Christian monuments of St. John’s Church, on display on the Seljuk walls in the city and in the upper frames of this mosque, demonstrate how the early church was adorned with amazing carved marble. Then the Seljuks reused the walls and pillars for the first mosque. The ancient waterways beneath the mosque (on display within it) reveal how the Byzantine church structured its buildings, most likely under imperial influence. Today we see the modern archaeological recovery.

Interest in the Seljuk layer of history naturally has a high profile in today’s setting, but they also featured multiple panels from St. John’s Church in the nearby walls and towers. So to display these to the Greek Byzantines who lived here. The old city was divided for hundreds of years to separate the new Seljuk powers from the Greek speakers; historians have well documented this.^[7]Evren Dayar’s write-up https://akmedmedia.ku.edu.tr/Adalya/Adalya_2023/Dayar_Offprint.pdf

In explaining some of these discoveries, or as some would say theories, most likely the archaeology team that focused on the site had many things to focus on: the graves, the madrasa, and the layers of history on top; the priority was not discovering more about the Byzantine church. So, in this sense, observing their discoveries and putting them on public display without any signage does not question what they found but rather enhances the process of discovery.

The archaeology is beginning to expose pieces of those successive layers. So now we can see more clearly that the previously buried or hidden architectural remains and medieval structures provide links to the historical puzzle.

Walking Tour of this area of Antalya